After two days of attacks, time gains, and time losses in the Pyrenees, Jonas Vingegaard (Jumbo Visma) and Tadej Pogachar (UAE Team Emirates) enjoyed a quiet day of Tour de France racing on the long, flat ride to Bordeaux. The two, who are 25 seconds apart in the overall standings, enjoyed a GC-conscious run rather than launching a big attack on Friday.

Jasper Philippsen (Alpecin-Desseuninck) caught and passed Mark Cavendish (Astana-Kazakstan) just before the finish, ending Mark Cavendish's hopes for a 35th stage win. Only one man, Wout Van Aert, sat out in the last few kilometers. He finished in 148th place, 3:05 behind, which dropped him to 16:05 back in the overall standings.

Pogachar, meanwhile, was just behind Vingegaard, protected by road captain Matteo Trentin as they headed into the high-speed finale.

Pogachar joined Vingegaard on the podium, wearing the white jersey of the best young rider of the day. Pogachar took a one-minute soak in the UAE Team Emirates ice bath to cool his body temperature.

"It was good until the last 40 km when I hit the gas pedal full throttle. It was a pretty good day," said Pogachar, clearly pleased that the trio of Simon Guglielmi (Arkea-Samsic), Nance Peters (AG2R-Citroen), and Pierre Latour (Total Energy) were off the front at this point.

Vingegaard agreed. With temperatures in southwestern France reaching 33°C, Vingegaard started the stage with an ice vest covering his new yellow jersey.

"I think all the GC riders extended the 3km rule before the corners because today was very hectic in the end. I think it made it a lot safer," he said, and thanked the UCI judges and the Association of Rider Chartered Accountants for agreeing to the change that in the event of an accident, the overall standings would be determined by 3.5km remaining instead of 3km.

Vingegaard pulled away from Pogachar on stage 5 in Larns and took the yellow jersey on stage 6 in Cortale. Vingegaard and Pogachar pulled away from Jai Hindley at Col du Tourmalet to take the GC lead.

"I would much rather be 25 seconds ahead than 25 seconds behind," said Vingegaard, sending a clear message to Pogachar and the others.

"I always choose to be at the front. Before this Tour de France, I never thought I would be leading at this point.

Vingegaard was asked about the 24-second time gap to Pogachar on stage 6. Pogachar had beaten the Slovenian in the Tour de France on the Tourmalet pass, and instead of taking the lead, he turned the tables on his rival and attacked him on the climb to the finish in Côterets, gaining time.

The 2023 Tour de France was not over, but much more exciting.

While Vingegaard attributed the time loss to an early start and a bad day, he refused to reveal whether he or his performance team had looked at his data and understood exactly what was wrong.

"I feel like I've felt in the last two Grand Tours," Vingegaard insisted. 'My worst days have always been the first week, especially the first few days. I wouldn't say I'm in bad shape, but I feel like I'm getting better every day."

The next battleground in the Vingegaard-Pogachar showdown should be the legendary Puy de Dome mountain finish in Massif Santoral on Sunday.

Vingegaard will be wary of the undulating stage to Limoges on Saturday and rest up for round 8.

Pogachar was also cautious, despite Thursday's attack that put him back in the yellow contention; older and wiser from his 2022 loss, Pogachar knows there are still two weeks and three race weekends left in the Tour de France.

"Morale is high," he said. 'Certainly we still have a chance, but there's a long way to go. In order to win, we need to preserve yesterday's legs."